The House voted Thursday to advance a visa reform bill that Republicans say would help keep talented foreign students in the United States, but which Democrats say would needlessly eliminate another key visa program.

Members voted 243-170 in favor of a rule for H.R. 6429, the STEM Jobs Act. That bill would eliminate a visa program for countries with low rates of emigration to the United States, and hand those visas to foreign students with degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM).

Approval of the rule sets up 90 minutes of debate, which will happen on Friday just before the House is expected to approve the legislation.

In the fall, Republicans tried to pass the same bill under a suspension of the rules, but that attempt failed due to Democratic opposition.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chief author of the bill, expressed confidence that the measure would clear the House and said he was "disappointed with the White House" â€” alleging its opposition was purely political.

"They've voiced no substantive opposition. They've just said they want to wait until next year and make it a part of a larger immigration bill. That simply means that for one year, two years, even indefinitely, we're going to have thousands of individuals with master's and PhDs who are not going to be allowed to stay in this country even though they're graduates from American universities," Smith told reporters.

"The president's position is hurting the economy and hurting the country," he added.

Testing the waters of what is expected to be a turbulent battle over immigration policy next year, the House voted Friday to make green cards accessible to foreign students graduating with advanced science and math degrees from U.S. universities.